Every product, whether a customer product or an industrial one, satisfies a need, solves a problem or offers a benefit.

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The objective of the advertising needs to focus on these for the objectives to be met and the message in the advertisement must be defined clearly. Thus industrial advertising must provide the buyers with the information that satisfies the need or communicates the intangible benefits.

Hence, every industrial advertiser must begin with the need gap of the customer or the benefit he is expecting to formulate a message. The choice of headlines, copy and so on can make a difference in the ad’s impact. The headlines have to be captivating and the copy must contain the information desired.

The communication must choose a positive tone. As far as possible, humour is avoided in industrial advertising. A straightforward tone, which puts forth the sincerity of the advertiser, is preferred.

Format:

Elements such as ad size, colours and illustration are important in industrial advertising too. A minor re arrangement of mechanical elements within the ad can improve its attention-getting power. Larger size ads gain more attention so do four colour advertisements instead of black and white.

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Unlike consumer advertising, flowery language and emotional appeals are to be restricted and the message must be kept to the specifics. Details of the product, product pictures or pictures of applications tend to draw attention.

Advertising messages can be categories as shown below in industrial advertising:

(1) Testimonials:

This feature is highly credible, likeable as on expert source endorsing the product. It could be a celebrity, a known personality in that industry talking about the benefits of the product according to them. In Industrial marketing, testimonials are provided by existing customers who are well known.

(2) User Experiences:

Case histories of users and the benefits they got by purchasing from the supplier are also used to draw the inferences. Credibility factor which is high when a user shares his experiences.

(3) Straight Exposition:

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A straightforward advertisement expressing the product features and the benefits that can be desired by the user is called a straight exposition. This ad has a lot of facts and figures and most commonly used in industrial advertising.

(4) Short Stories:

Though rarely used, it can be effective when the company wants to build a case and involve the customer so as to derive in the benefits of using the product. The story can be like that of Ms. Patricia mentioned in explain her profession and how she benefits by Nortel Networks.

(5) Negative Ads:

Emotional appeals are rare in industrial advertising, but some negative advertising seen where in the ill effects of not using the company’s products or not utilizing the company’s services are expressed. Schneider Electric Company, already serving customers like Ford India, ITC, Fiat India, MRF, Hero Group etc., using negative ads.

It says, if the managers don’t use the services of Schneider, they shall not have peaceful lives but ones filled with tension, since they are the only ones who can supply uninterrupted power to the industrial houses.

(6) Comparative ads:

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Some persuasive advertising has moved into the category of comparative advertising, which seeks to establish superiority of one brand through specific comparison of one or more attributes with one or more brands in the product class. For example, in JK Tyre claims itself to be the No. 1 type manufacturing firm and gives a comparison of the market share details with others in the industry like MRF, Ceat, Apollo, Good Year and others.

(7) Social responsibility ads:

Some advertisers use this as a medium to bring into focus the activities that they perform for the well being of the society and environment. This is to bring about a good company image in the minds of the consumer and the general public. These are called social responsibility ads. An example of this is provided in Hindalco Aluminum, which has adopted villages and given them water, hygiene and schools etc.

(8) Quality initiative:

In industrial companies, quality standards like TQM, ISO 9000 series SEI CMM of software industry plays an important role and such advertisements form a major chunk of visibility of the company.